Dunedin Gossip.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLIII, Issue 2337, 27 January 1913, Page 5

Dunedin Gossip.

(From m u mvx Cokupspundknt) 1 hniedin, January, 2 Ith. Von will have fittingly received and sped your guests of the Parliamentary party before this appears, so that it would not be advisable to dwell at any length on the brief stay of the parly in Dunedin. All that need be said is that the members of the party appeared prepared to be pleased with what they saw.

The tragedy at St Clair, by which two comparatively young men lost their lives and two women and four children were rendered husbandless and fatherless, appears to bo surrounded with some mystery because so many persons saw it enacted before their eyes that it is difficult to link up the various accounts. The evidence does not really explain how two men, both apparently good swimmers, while disporting themselves in the water,

suddenly got into trouble—and one was taken to the shore dead, while a little later the body of lltc other, also dead, drifted to the shore. The medical testimony was to the effect that it was doubtful if deatli was due to drowning. The only other feasible theory is shoek. A\ hat has been proved by the tragedy is that ii surf-bathing is to be eontinned the life-saving club must be made something more of a reality than at present, and that there should be anchored floating platforms which could be reached by bathers for a rest. But as Iris been previously pointed out surf-bathing on the beach near Dunedin will always be a dangerous pastime because the sea is always treacherous and the conditions change with almost every tide. AN hero on one day the water is only Ift or sft dee]> will be found next day, by the moving of the sand, to be 7ft or Sft deep.

Dunedin has hecn remarkably tree from the labour troubles which have been so common in other parts of the Dominion. We are so far not aflected by the slaughtermen’s strike because work at our freezing works has not commenced yet and those interested are hopeful that the trouble may he over by the time our works are ready to commence. So far as can he gathered from those who are supposed to he partly behind the scenes, although the wages demanded is the apparent cause of the trouble the real objection of the freezing companies is to some of the other conditions. If this he the ease a compromise may be possible by the men notifying or foregoing (he obnoxious conditions and the freezing companies granting the increased pay demanded.

We have had a visit from Air AVcbb, a prominent member of the Federation of Labour, who entertained a, small hut always changing crowd by speaking from the steps of Cargill’s monument, popularly termed the Fountain. Considering the fact that no charge was made and no collection taken up, the attendance must have been disappointing to the Federation official and as men kept coming and going it would appeal that he did not make a great impression on his audiences. He is n fast and fluent speaker, so fast indeed that many of his listeners could not follow him, and it is easy to understand howlie might carry off their feet a • crowd in sympathy with the cause he was advocating. But either the workers of Dunedin have no sore grievance, or they do not look to the Federation of Labor to right their wrongs. il ■ may he that as wan k is at present plentiful and wages good that the workers are not disposed to spend tluir leisure in listening to frothy oratory.

Wo have Just concluded the r*»i« 1 wool sale of the IVnuimou ;sn< 1 for 1 his season Dmiciliii stands at (ho top of tlie tree. A half hour or so spent in the .sale room is a most interesting and occasionally a highly diverting experience. The wool is all inspected and valued by the buyers a day or so before the sale and at the actual auction none of it is visible. The auctioneer with a clerk on each side of him is in the box and in front of him are the buyers seated at the desks rising in tiers from the floor so that those at the rear are as prominent as those in front. Each is armed with his marked catalogue and in his shirt sleeves he is as alert as a weasel. On the front of his desk is printed in prominent letters his own name or that of the firm he represents. The auctioneer names the lot and the bidding may go on quietly but speedily for a minute or two. Then comes a lot in demand and in an instant the buyers are like wild beasts, roaring, yelling, screaming, shouting, squeaking, wax ing catalogues, or wildly gesticulating to attract attention. In an extraordinary short space of time the lot is sold, having advanced sometimes in the babel as much as lid from the starting price. This scene is repeated every few minutes. Tor all lots there seemed to be one or JLwo buyers, but for anything above the average the whole crowd appeared to be bidding. Occasionally there is a slight misunderstanding as a bidder may have mistaken the number of the lot under other, but generally this is only towards the close of a long and strenuous day. Of the crowd attending many were attracted merely by curiosity and to find amusement ip the excitement. Hut the sellers were present, eager and anxious, and many evidently doubtful whether they were able to follow the transaction and .wondering whether they were really getting the full value for their clip. To attempt to describe the voices of the buyers would be worse than useless. They ranged from the roar of a bull to the squeak or screech of > the Tarawera whistle.